Felicity Fall Preview

Expect more love and less war when Felicity enters its make-or-break third season on the WB this fall. In fact, according to executive producer J.J. Abrams, the romance between coeds Ben and Felicity will take center stage.

"That relationship, which I think we prematurely ended last year, is really one of the stories that we're going to be able to track over the course of the season," Abrams tells TV Guide Online, adding that the series ? which will share the Wednesday 9 pm/ET time slot with the inferior Jack & Jill ? will continue down the lighter path it forged toward the end of last season. "We're coming back this year with people not furious at each other, resentful, pissed off. It was a very ugly condition to return to last year after Felicity [alienated everyone by spending the summer with Ben], so this year is a much more fun atmosphere to come back to college."

That's good news for Noel, who spent most of his sophomore year caught up in a pregnancy drama with girlfriend Ruby. "I think Noel next year will feel much more like the Noel of the first year," Abrams says. "Last year we gave him such a sort-of-like serious satellite story, and this year we're giving him a lot more fun stuff to do. I'm very excited about what we're doing with Noel." Still, Abrams says he hopes Amy Smart ? who appeared in the spring sleeper Road Trip ? will return as Ruby. "I love her," he says.

Another character near and dear to Abrams's heart is Javier, who tied the knot with lover Samuel during the drama's season finale. The union was even sealed with a same-gender smooch ? a bus that generated very little fuss. "I know that Dawson's Creek made a big deal about their kiss between two men," says Abrams. "But I sort of loved that we sort of quietly went along and had two men get married in addition to having a kiss."